House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said over the weekend that he believes that the Department of Justice is trying to obstruct the Committee’s investigation into the Biden family after federal prosecutors urged a judge to order one of Hunter Biden’s business partners to report to prison as he gets set to testify this week.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York requested in a letter to U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams to schedule a date for Hunter’s former business partner, Devon Archer, to report to prison after a jury convicted him of defrauding a Native American tribe and various investment advisory clients of tens of millions of dollars. Archer’s sentence has been postponed due to several appeals from his legal counsel.
“It’s odd that it was issued on a Saturday, and it’s odd that it’s right before he’s scheduled to come in to have an opportunity to speak in front of the House Oversight Committee and tell the American people the truth about what really went on with Burisma,” he said.
“The lengths to which the Biden legal team has gone to try to intimidate our witnesses, to coordinate with the Department of Justice, and to certainly coordinate with the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee to encourage people not to cooperate with our investigation, to encourage banks not to turn over bank records, to encourage Treasury not to let us have access to those suspicious activity reports,” Comer continued. “It’s very troubling. And I believe that…this is another violation of the law. This is obstruction of justice.”
WATCH:
@RepJamesComer joined @MariaBartiromo this morning with breaking news ahead of Devon Archer's scheduled testimony tomorrow 👇 pic.twitter.com/tqpeRPNaTU
— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) July 30, 2023
Archer, 58, who served as a director of Ukrainian energy company Burisma alongside Hunter Biden, is expected to testify in a closed-door session before the House Oversight Committee on Monday that Hunter put then-Vice President Joe Biden on the phone roughly two dozen times as Hunter spoke to his foreign business partners or business investors. According to Politico, Judge Abrams is not expected to make a decision before Archer testifies.
Matthew Schwartz, an attorney for Archer, told Politico the counsel dismissed a connection between Archer’s sentencing and the filing or the timing of the Justice Department’s letter.
“We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice’s weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison is an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee,” Schwartz said in a statement. “To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation. In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to do all along, which is to show up on Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators.”